Trains of No Return

Friday morning we surprised Ra'anan and Idan when they arrived at the airport. After dropping off their luggage at the hotel we set off for Platform 17.








Our visit to Platform 17 was unsettling. Jews who had been relocated to Berlin boarded the box cars that would take them to the extermination camps at Platform 17. Except for the memorials, Platform 17 looks like it did in the 1940s. There are hundreds of placques on the ground indicating the number of Jews transported on each particular day; some placques list 50; some over 1,100. My grandparents, Tobias and Betty Bachenheimer, were transported from Berlin on 14 April 1942 along with 65 other Jews.

Paste Ofra Haza into your browser at:
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Yeah, yeah yeah, we need the rain
Yeah, yeah yeah, to wash the trains
Endless nights
Tortured days
Trains of no return

Law-El ani agraw aneni
Avka bachawl lailaw aneni
Ten tal umawtawr aneni
Oh aneni Oh
[To God I call, please answer me
I cry every night, answer me
Give us dew and rain, answer me
answer me]

Oh, don't let them grow again
Oh, no not again
Don't let them roll again
The trains of no return

Yeah, yeah yeah, we need the rain
Yeah, yeah yeah, to wash the trains
Endless nights
Tortured days
Trains of no return

Law-El ani agraw aneni
Aneni, aneni
Sham za'aku kolot anenu
Sham za'aku kolot anenu
Ba'aru orot anenu
Ba'aru orot anenu
Ba'aru orot anenu
Netzach Yisrael anenu
Hu lo y'shaker
Kawl ha'or kawl hachoshech
Sheyoter mikawl ra'u eich
Din ha'Elohim molech
Hem gam mevakshim
[To God I call, answer me
Answer me, answer me
Their voices cried out, answer us
Lights burned, answer us
Eternal One of Israel, answer us
He will not fail us
All the light, all the darkness
Which more than anything, saw how
The law of God rules
They also plead]

Yeah, yeah yeah, we need the rain
Yeah, yeah yeah, to wash the trains
Endless nights
Tortured days
Trains of no return
Don't let them grow again
Don't let them burn again
Don't let them roll again
The trains of no return
We need the rain
Don't let them grow again
Don't let them burn again
Don't let them roll again